Despite the fact that we’re well into November at this point, I have yet to do a single thing to get my kitchen ready for the rapidly approaching holidays. If you haven’t either, then at least we’re in good company, and it isn’t to late to get ready either!
In fact, I’ve broken it down into a handful of the most important tasks. Tackle one task at a time, and soon enough, your kitchen will be in tip-top shape for the holidays, regardless of how grand or intimate your gatherings will be.
11 Tips To Get Your Kitchen Ready For The Holidays
1. Clear Out Old Food
Clear out any old food items (especially anything past its best-by date) from your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Not only will you get rid of all those expired or unwanted things that are taking up valuable shelf space, but you’ll free up room for incoming ingredients and future culinary creations.
Be sure to clean up any sticky messes if your fridge or on your shelves if you happen to have any. (This isn’t strictly related to holiday prep, but you’re already moving things around so it’s a good opportunity to take care of those messes!)
If you’re freezer’s feeling crowded, take things out of their bulky packaging to free up more space. Discard foods that show signs of freezer burn. If you have an older freezer that needs to be defrosted on occasion, you can probably gain some valuable storage space by defrosting it now.
2. Check Your Spice Cupboard
Go through your spice cupboard and check the best-by dates on everything you know you’ll use for your holiday dishes. When in doubt, spices that are over a year old could probably use replacing, as well as any that don’t smell like much of anything when you open them.
Here are some spices commonly used during holiday cooking to look for and restock as necessary:
- Poultry seasoning
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Parsley
- Garlic
- Nutmeg
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Vanilla extract
3. Clean Your Oven And Dishwasher
Your oven and dishwasher are likely to get a workout in the coming weeks, so you want to make sure they’re relatively clean and in good working order for the holidays. If your oven or dishwasher is looking particularly grimy, check out my tutorials detailing how to clean each here:
4. Inventory Your Cookware
Making sure you have all the cookware you need (and that you know where it all is) can go a long way toward making your holiday meals more efficient. Start by taking an inventory of your pots and pans—do you know where your roaster is, and where all the lids to your pots are?
Another good thing to do is check out your cookware for cracks, chips, or broken pieces so you know what needs replacing.
5. Wash Your Tableware And Linens
Since a lot of our holiday pieces only comes out once or twice a year, they might be a bit dusty. It’s a good idea to pull out any special dishes, glassware, flatware and serving pieces and give them a good wash—doing it ahead of time will ensure you’re not trying to wash a bunch of large dishes during the hustle and bustle of food prep.
Take the time to wash and iron your tablecloths and napkins too. If you like to use candles on your holiday table, make sure you have enough on hand and a lighter or matches to light them with.
6. Get Rid Of Clutter
If you’re anything like me, once the cooking begins in earnest, you need all the counter space you can get! To help free up more workspace, go through your kitchen and remove extra items from countertops, tables and shelves to declutter.
Put all these things into a storage bin or closet so you can get them back out and replace them after the holidays. With your temporarily pared-down kitchen, you’ll have the room you need to cook and bake your holiday meals to perfection.
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7. Sharpen Your Knives
Don’t settle for hacking up your turkey with a dull carving knife—take the time to sharpen it beforehand, along with your other go-to kitchen knives. Use either a sharpening steel, a knife sharpener, or take your knives to a local knife shop and get them sharpened by a professional.
8. Stock Up On The Basics
I find that if I’m going to forget about something, it’s not usually the ingredients or the table settings—it’s those everyday housewares that I didn’t think to check on! Save yourself some time and stress by making sure you have plenty of those everyday necessities. (For instance, you don’t want to finish up a big holiday meal and realize you’re out of dishwasher detergent!)
Not everyone will need all of these things, but here’s a general list of household basics you can check your stock of:
- Trash bags
- Kitchen string
- Aluminum foil
- Plastic wrap
- Ziplock bags
- Cheesecloth
- Dish soap
- Dishwasher detergent
- Toothpicks
- Batteries
- Coffee filters
- Paper towels
- Napkins
9. Give Your Kitchen A Safety Inspection
Whether or not you’ll be expecting little ones in your home for the holidays, making sure your kitchen is safe is a smart move! But if you are expecting little ones over, you’ll want to ensure they can’t get a hold of any potentially harmful objects, such as matches, lighters, sharp utensils and household cleaners, by storing them cupboards with safety latches.
And everyone should make sure they have a functional fire extinguisher and smoke detector in their kitchen. And speaking of smoke detectors, take the time to test all the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your house to make sure they’re working correctly. Better safe than sorry!
10. Give Your Appliances A Checkup
Check each appliance you plan to use, including your microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, crockpots, food processor, mixer and blender, to make sure they’re working and ready for action. As you assess each appliance, clean anything that could use it.
It’s also worth checking your oven temperature to make sure it’s heating up to the correct temperature. Learn more about calibrating and adjusting your oven at the link below.
Read More: How To Calibrate Your Oven For Better Baking
11. Consider Setting Up A Drinks Station
One thing I find helpful during holiday dinners is setting up water, sodas, and any other beverages out of the main kitchen area. That way, people can help themselves to drinks without creating a traffic jam for those of us who are working in the kitchen.
You can do this for the duration of the season, which may be especially useful if you’ll have guests staying with you for the holidays. Set up an easily accessible beverage station with your coffee maker and coffee, water kettle and tea, and all the add-ins too. Put it in your living room, dining room, or wherever makes the most sense in your house so that guests can help themselves without crowding the kitchen.
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Do you do anything special to get your home ready for the holidays?
December is so busy that thorough house-cleaning is nearly impossible, so if guests are coming over and you haven’t been able to get the house in ship-shape, keep the lighting low by using the lights on your Christmas tree and strategically placed candles. If you have a dimmer switch on your lamps and/or overhead lights, that works, too! This also creates a warm atmosphere.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.this is a nice article, i like it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I plan in advance what will go in each serving dish, I set up 3 crockpots on the patio, and use my grill to “bake” my meats outside on my patio. That leaves more space inside for serving inside and frees up my oven for side dishes and breads. I try to do as much advance work as possible, so I spend the day with family and friends instead of in the kitchen. I try to use good refrigerator management so that I have room to thaw my meats and store my fruits and veggies, but my poor fridge is always stuffed. This is the one time of the year where I wish I had an extra refrigerator!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great tips! I’d add polish silver!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I start preparing a few day’s before Thanksgiving, the night before I peel and dice my potato’s and soak them in a pan of water in the fridge. I dice up my celery and onions for my oyster dressing and soak them in the fridge also. I have all my baking done the day before and the turkey in the oven overnight on 200 degree’s and so on Thanksgiving I just have to do a few small things and i’m finished. This way I have more time to spend with the family.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have difficulty with organization and time management. The things that help me out are doing a lot of the housework the weekend before the big day so I can focus better. I like to bake the day before and cut some of the vegetables to have ready for T-Day. The most important part is enjoying the time with the loved ones!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My best tip is to do as much prep work in advance as I can. That way Thanksgiving is a more relaxed day for me.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I try to make as much ahead of time as I can. I make my noodles 2 weeks ahead and freeze. Make my pies the night before. Anything I can do ahead of time works, so that I am not exhausted by the time my family arrives!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My prep includes cleaning all the nooks and crannies (fans, vents, refrigerator, stove, etc)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I like to have a few gifts wrapped to put under the Christmas tree that night when we set it up. It makes it so exciting for our little ones.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My holiday tip is to clean some every day.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I count my blessings while I am preparing and cooking. I love sharing new ideas. I also go over the old recipes with my children and grandchildren helping me cook. I tell them the story behind the recipes, and any little extra secret that is not written on the card.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do everything I can ahead of time, don’t know how else to keep it simple!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My tip is to be sure and have the EO’s on hand!!! I have as much prepped as I can before hand and I try and breathe and relax. I think this year we are going to try a new Holiday tradition, even though I don’t know what that is yet!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Plan simple meals the week of Thanksgiving. I do a lot of soup & sandwiches (Panini’s) and Crock pot meals. It give me extra time to get all the other things on my list done.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I prepare all the food prior to the day of the gathering and throw things in the crockpots and Nesco cookers the day of it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Preparation Tip #1: Locate key to your china cabinet several days before your big dinner! My key has disappeared, the cabinet builder is no longer in business and I don’t know how to pick the locks.
Tip # 2: Have disposable paper plates and saucers, cups and plastic forks on hand
Please log in or create a free account to comment.in case # 1 doesn’t work out.
Have little dots or something ready to put on the bottom of platters and dishes people bring so you can identify the owners later after the food is cleaned up and put away. Also let go of it when the day arrives, there is nothing more you can do what will be will be and what’s most important is that you get to relax and enjoy your family and friends and they you. Trust me everyone will eat and everyone will enjoy themselves especially if they get to enjoy you as well as each other.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My favorite tip has already been mentioned but I’ll repeat it. As an aging Mom and Grannie, my perspective on some things has changed over the years. Spending time with my family and loved ones is far more important than cooking to impress and exceed.
It seems that our holidays are so much more enjoyable when everyone is relaxed, helping out here and there, and there aren’t so many dishes prepared than we could possibly eat. It’s about time together and counting our blessings, and enjoying the good foods.
Do as much as is possible ahead of time, take care of yourself, take – and have someone else take – lots of pictures, candid and posed.
And as someone else said, BREATHE!
Hope each and everyone of you has a blessed Thanksgiving.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do a lot of cookies, and instead of freezing each kind in its own tin, I have a few large tins that I put an assortment of all my cookies in. So when I want to do a plate of cookies, I grab a large tin and use everything in it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Keep a snack area on your table or in the refrigerator. Guests sometimes want a late night snack. I keep cookies or cake slices on the table. Individual juices, waters, fruit readily available and easy to access in the frig.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My tip… know what you love to do for entertaining…
If you love to cook sit down dinners, invite people over for dinner.
If you are into a bit more freedom in your party, do a bunch of appetizers and let people eat what they want…
I vary from year to year but have learned to trust my gut on which one to do each year.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I prepare as much ahead as i can, make sure i get plenty of rest before the big day and not stress over mishaps.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My tip is delegation. Each family member is responsible for a dish. I’m making the rolls from scratch this year.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Be ready for the little visitors. Check games, colored pencils and markers, get coloring books, locate the dvd’s.
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